Friendship
by noriboriman
Summary: Hermione begins to see Harry in a different light, although she could still not categorize her feelings for him... please read and review...
1. Chapter 1

_this is an accompaniment to my other story, 'The new Beauxbaton Professor'... how Harry and Hermione even began to find each other attractive..._

* * *

Harry entered into Hogwarts muddied after a training session with his fellow Gryffindors. It was not helpful that it was still raining hard ever since the start of the term. And the fact that there were Dementors flying around the castle grounds did not at all help in any way.

It was really unnerving to everyone, even the teachers at Hogwarts. Ever since news of an escaped convict from Azkaban, (which was the first in Wizarding history), would be coming to Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic deemed it appropriate to assign Dementors to the school. They say it for the protection of everybody.

It was also in part of Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, who was driving them hard during Quidditch practise. "This is our last chance, my last, to win the Quidditch Cup. This is my last year at Hogwarts," he would say to them as though they would gain inspiration from it.

So, Harry and the rest of the team were pushed hard during practises, often with Oliver shouting instructions among other things. After, the team would be giving him the dagger-stares, him being oblivious as he plans the next practise sessions.

This particular session was most grueling, it was the fifth one since the beginning of the term. Harry, Fred and George Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet tumbled in to the castle all muddied-up.They were tired, angry and wet, not to mention dirty.

They grumbling as they hurriedly went up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower.

"A shower would be nice," said Fred, his beater bat on his right shoulder. He was smiling a little as he stared into space.

"Yeah, my muscle are really aching," said George, his bat and broomstick held by his left hand while his right massages his shoulder.

"But one thing's for sure, Slytherin's going down," exclaimed Angelina, waving her fist in the air.

Katie and Alicia nodded their assent. Harry was quiet behind them, looking a little uneasy.

* * *

"Hey, Ron," Harry called his bestfriend as he came through the portrait hole. The red-haired boy looked up from a game of Wizard's Chess against Seamus Finnigan. The latter was obviously losing.

"Where's Hermione?"

"Maybe she's in the library," answered Ron, frowning at Harry. "What happened to you?"

"Wood happened. The team got it all."

"Blimey, Wood should tone it down a bit if he wants to win," commented Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor. He was watching Ron and Seamus.

"Yeah, he should," said George as he came in next. Behind him came Fred. "Or else," he commented nudging at his twin to change and bathe at their dormitory.

The Chasers came last, muttering something under their breaths that sounded like "wood" "die" and some other things to that effect.

Harry hurried upstairs to his room to change.

* * *

Hermione Granger was once again in the library, reading something about Transfiguration, when Harry found her. She was writing on a piece of parchment.

Harry smiled and leaned near her right ear.

"Studying?"

Hermione jumped, knocking over her bottle of ink. She hit Harry on the chin.

"Harry!" she exclaimed as she tried to gather her parchments before the ink get to them.

"Hermione," Harry said, rubbing his chin. He was grinning, which left her unnerved.

"What are you smiling about?" she muttered, having caught Madame Pince's sharp stares.

Waving her hand she muttered, "Scourgify." The ink disappeared, the wet parchments were still soggy and smelled of ink.

Harry sat down, still smiling, and promptly grabbed the book Hermione was reading. Hermione was still busy with her parchments, she was sorting them out. All the while she was muttering incoherent words.

"This is advance stuff," Harry said as he read through.

Hermione turned to look at him, he was still smiling, although it was absent-mindedly. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, his emerald-green eyes slowly moving across the page, the corners of his mouth slightly curled upwards.

She shook her head, "What was I thinking?"

"What did you say?" asked Harry without looking up from the book. Oh shit.

"Nothing," she mumbled. She arranged her things, dividing the parchments into three separate piles.

"Why did you come here?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry. He turned to look at her with his piercing green eyes, sparkling with animation.

"I forgot," he said, then smiled.

Hermione lifted an eyebrow, looking at him through eyelids that were continuing to become horizontal slits.

"Sorry, to have disturbed you," Harry said, handing back her book. "See you at dinner."

"Yeah."

She watched him go, watching him skip out of the library. She laughed to herself, she have not known Harry to skip away

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

_everything is J.K.Rowling's... although some of my ideas are interlaced..._

* * *

It was the summer after third year, and as usual Harry Potter found himself in an awful spot at 4 Privet Drive.

"After doing those rose bushes, de-weed the lawn again."

"But Aunt Petunia, I just did it last week."

"Come on, don't complain. I need to see that lawn resplendent, you understand. You should have it done, since your uncle had allowed you to go. You have," Petunia Dursley looked at the clock on the wall just right beside her, it was almost five in the afternoon. "until six to finish. It is already five so no more complaints."

With that Petunia left her nephew outside to do the gardening, while she resumed cleaning of the house.

Ever since he arrived back at the Dursleys', he did the gardening. He even told them that the escaped convict, the "Mass Murderer" Sirius Black, was his godfather so they would at least give him enough time to himself.

In a way, they did give him time. He was never given a chore that would require all of his available time, however, they did give the task of taking care of the garden.

Harry sighed, at least he was allowed to correspond with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. And something they told him last night was enough for him to happily finish his task faster than expected.

* * *

"A what?" Vernon Dursley asked his nephew, looking at him as if what he said was something very unsensible. Well, for them it was.

"I am invited to join the Weasleys in watching the Quidditch World Cup," Harry said, wiping the spittle that came from his uncle.

They were eating dinner then when he told them of the news. It was a good thing he said it when his Uncle Vernon was not chewing.

"And what makes you think I would be letting you, eh?" Vernon asked, his eyes slits and his fork pointed at Harry.

"Oh, you're not letting me... oh okay, I'll just write to me godfather that I could not come because-"

"Oh alright," Vernon said, his face white, "you can go with those freaky friends of yours."

Harry smiled inwardly. One mention of Sirius Black to the Dursleys, and it would turn them all livid with fear. The rest of their dinner was conducted in silence, with the Dursleys occasionally stealing glances at each other and at Harry.

That night, Harry wrote to Hermione and Ron about the trip to the Quidditch World Cup, stating that he could come. He attached the letter to Hedwig and sent her on her way.

"This would be a fun summer," Harry thought to himself, lifting the loose floorboard under his bed and eating his supplies of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and Chocolate Frogs. Harry smiled to himself.

* * *

Hermione Granger was reading a book on Transfiguaration on her bed when she heard a light tapping on her window. She saw a blurry snowy owl just outside her translucent glass window, with a letter in its beak.

She sighed, as she stood up after putting a bookmark on the page she was reading she wondered who would write to her.

Upon opening the window she discovered that she knew the owner of her nocturnal visitor.

"Thanks Hedwig," she said as she stroked owl. Hedwig ruffled her feathers and flew off, carrying the last of the two letters written by Harry.

She eagerly opened her letter. It read:

_Dear Hermione,_

_I hope you're doing well. Sorry for not writing to you more often, corresponding with everyone is next to impossible when I'm with the Dursleys. I do hope you would not take it against me.  
_

_I don't know if Ron told you, but I'll be staying with them for the rest of the summer. We would also be watching the Quidditch World Cup, so I suppose the Weasley's invited you too. I really do want to see you. And Ron. _

_Write to me when it is convenient with you._

_Well, see you at the Burrow._

_Harry_

Hermione smiled as she finished reading the short letter. She climbed on her bed, lying down and staring at her ceiling, the letter on her chest.

After a while, she got up and looked beneath her bed. From there, she pulled out an old shoebox adorned with various stickers, with one word written in a beautiful caligraphy amidst it all, _Keepsakes_.

She opened the box and placed the letter with the rest of the things in it, these were from the people who were important to her. She sighed.

* * *

_this is as far as i get for this time... until the next post... please read and review... thanks... XP_


	3. Chapter 3

_everything is J.K.Rowling's... this is a non-profit piece of work... and it's mine to share to you all...  
_

* * *

"Wake up, Harry," someone was shaking him out of his dream.

"Mmmhmmm," he said, turning over. He knew he was at The Burrow, the Weasleys' home. They were going to watch the Quidditch World Cup, that was probabaly why he and Ron slept late last night.

He could hear a faint voice trying to penetrate the hazy state of his dreaming mind. "Come on, Mrs. Weasley's got breakfast ready. We should get down now."

Harry knew that voice. Opening an eye, his suspicions were proven correct. It was Hermione who was haranguing them to move fast, albeit she was blurred.

Harry turned his opened eye towards the other bed. Ron Weasley, his best male friend, was sitted up and trying to put some clothes on, although it was still apparent he was asleep. He was snoring awfully loud.

Hermione turned her gaze towards Harry and caught the flash of green before it was gone.

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione said, her arms crossed, legs wide, and was staring at him with an expression Harry knew was not pleasant.

He felt his head move as the pillows around his head were being removed.

"Hiya, Hermione," he finally said. He opened both of his eyes, and they became wide as he focused on what he saw. Hermione's chest was close to his face. And her shirts could not hide the cleavage of her breasts.

He breathed outwardly from the mouth.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione said, as she immediately distanced herself from him. She was holding her arms close to herself, and there was a blush starting to form on her face. She was still staring at his face with confused eyes.

Harry was still wide-eyed and opened-mouth in shock of what just transpired.

"I, uhm... sorry 'bout that..." he finally said, looking away and a blush creeping on his face.

"M-Mrs. Weasley would like the us to go to breakfast," she said. "Now."

Harry nodded, and did not turn again until he heard the door open and close behind his best female friend.

"What just happened?" he thought, as he glanced at Ron, and then stared at the closed door.

* * *

"Krum?"

"Yep, Viktor Krum. The Bulgarian Seeker."

"Yeah, yeah. He was good there, at the World Cup."

"He's not just any athlete, he's an artist."

"I think you're in love, Ron," interjected a female voice.

"Shut up, Ginny," Ron said. "Harry and I are talking here."

"Oh come on, Ron. You sound like a love-struck teenager," Harry said, chucking a pillow at his best male friend. Ron retaliated with his own barrage of pillows.

The others, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione, joined in the pillow fight. They were back at the tent. The Quidditch World Cup had just ended with Ireland winning over Bulgaria, however Krum got the Snitch.

"Oof..." Harry said when a pillow thrown by Hermione landed on his chest rather hard.

"Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry,"Hermione said, coming near the injured boy. The Weasley siblings were still at it. Hermione had her right hand on Harry's shoulder, a look of concern on her face, when Harry spun her around and she ended up on his lap. She blushed.

"That hurt, Hermione," Harry started to say. "And I know what punishment would be appropriate."

He proceeded to tickle Hermione's sides. The bushy-haired girl tried to get away from the wild-haired boy, but she was against a quidditch player, a seeker at that.

"Pl-please..., hihihihihi...s-s-s-stop," Hermione said in between giggles. Harry did not budge, instead he tikled her more.

"No, you're my prisoner and-," he did not finish the sentence, because Mr. Weasley hurried them out of the tent. The older man's face was very pale.

Upon exiting the tent, they knew why they must all go to the Portkey. There were Death Eaters on the grounds.

* * *

With the rest of their summer relatively peaceful, after the Death Eater shock during the Quidditch World Cup, Harry, Ron and Hermione prepared to board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4 with the other Weasleys.

"Ron, keep your new owl safe. Ginny, have you got your sweater? It's cold there. Fred, George, don't make anymore of those things. Stop troubling your schoolmates and professors."

"Honestly, mum, if you were so concerned, why not hop on the train with us," Fred retorted.

"Yeah, why not just come with us and be our-," George started to say.

"Your what? If you don't behave, I'll very much do as you asked."

Ron turned pale, "I think Fred and George are just joking, mum. Aren't you?" He nudged at the twins.

"Yeah, yeah," George shrugged, getting what Ron was trying to imply.

Mrs. Weasley eyed her sons rather suspiciously, but she turned towards Harry.

"Harry dear, take care of yourself. No more going out at nights, and please take care of yourself."

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley."

"Hermione, please take care of my children. You can keep a very tight leash on them, especially those two," indicating Fred and George with her index finger.

"Honestly, mum," Fred said, and he got into the train.

The bell sounded, the train was about to leave. Mrs. Weasley gave last minute check on the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione. Just as the train was about to leave the platform, Mrs. Weasley told Harry something through the window.

"Take care of Hermione and Ginny, they seem to be awfully taken by you."

The train's whistle sounded, and they were off. Harry remained thoughtful throughout the trip.

* * *

_this is as far as i get for this time... until the next post... please read and review... thanks... XP_


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